"A Quick Post On The Decline Of The West"

"A Quick Post On The Decline Of The West"

by John Wilder

"The evening got away from me. I’d love to tell you that I was doing something productive, but I was really just goofing around. I felt a bit blah (not sick, mind you, but blah) all week. So, I decided to goof around. If today’s thoughts are a bit shorter than usual, that should explain it.

When I was a young adult, I read "Atlas Shrugged."  Now, I said, I read it, but when it got to the part where John Galt hacked into the radio to give a (what seemed like to me) 700-page speech that was just reiterating every point Rand had already made in the book, but this time with crayon, I skipped it. So, I read most of it. Except 90% of the speech.

One thing that stuck with me about the tone of the book was that it took place in a world that had moved on. Stuff just didn’t work. I seem to recall a broken clock, and broken rails, and the image of a society that had done great things but was no longer capable of them.

The mission of NASA used to be to send people and things up into space. The goal was to learn more about the Solar System, the planets, and the Universe beyond. The other part of the goal was to make man an interplanetary and, hopefully, an interstellar species.

NASA was doing one of the hardest things that had ever been done – inventing technology at the very edge of what humans were capable of, and then using it. It was one of the grandest adventures of the 20th Century. It was also staffed by young people. Gene Kranz, the “Failure is not an option guy” was the Flight Director for several Apollo missions, most notably Apollo 13. When Apollo 13 happened? Kranz was 36.

Our nation at that point had failures, sure. But now it seems like that’s the definition. And the things we’re failing on aren’t even new tech. East Palestine (The Mrs. told me, “It’s pronounced Palesteen, Froderick”) Ohio is suffering from one of the biggest failures of tech that is nearly 200 years old.

Then there was a fire at Oak Ridge involving uranium. Normally, one tries to avoid burning radioactive things. I mean, it’s not like this is Russia and all of us are protected from radiation via the consumption of massive amounts of vodka. There are others, of course. The Jackson, Mississippi water plant appears to not work (sometimes) because the people running it don’t know how to run it. I could go on and on.

In one sense, it almost appears that we’re suffering a crisis of people who just don’t care or are, well, stupid. I hate to say stupid, because water treatment has been around for hundreds of years, too, and is far simpler than the Apollo project.

One symptom, perhaps, of the increasing and accelerating rate of change (notice I didn’t say improvement, I said change) in the world is increasing failures of the basic systems of life. Sure, we can have Doordash™* deliver tacos, but the justice system is failing, too. And how many readers here trust our elections? In the race to be “efficient” we’ve made it easy to cheat. Even if there wasn’t cheating, creating systems that are opaque enough so they’re not shenanigan proof is a failure in itself.

Our social systems are failing. Our infrastructure is failing, and it becomes ever more obvious the things that bind us together are failing. Here in Modern Mayberry, the power has worked pretty well, but investment in power and infrastructure has made the system nearly third-world in some places.

I expect it to get worse. I don’t even think we’re close to the level of failure we’ll be seeing due to the incompetence of the leadership in the country. I see no real thoughts that our leadership will get better, since the idea of hiring smart young folks like Gene Kranz is out the window, and hiring people who share the same ideology, regardless of ability, is in.

We are living in the time science fiction author Robert A. Heinlein called, “The Crazy Years” – in his words: “Considerable technical advance during this period, accompanied by a gradual deterioration of mores, orientation and social institutions, terminating in mass psychoses...”

I believe the signs are there that we are in that “mass psychoses” and that is the end of this cycle. The mere fact that truth can no longer be spoken in public due to the offense that it might give shows that the mental bending is built deep into discourse today. To be clear, there is little of today’s society when it comes to values and morality left to conserve – the Left has taken it all. No, where we are going into our future has nothing to do with conservation, it’s going to be about restoration. Failure is not an option. *There is no Doordash™ in Modern Mayberry, unless it's raining."

- https://wilderwealthywise.com/

"How It Really Is"

 

Bill Bonner, "Distort and Destroy"

"Distort and Destroy"

How the Feds manipulate the numbers 

to wreak havoc on the economy...

by Bill Bonner

San Martin, Argentina - "Bear markets take time. They also provide countless occasions to lose money. With each bounce comes an opportunity for investors to buy higher so they can later sell lower." ~ MN Gordon

“Here’s an article in the French newspaper, Le Figaro, from yesterday,” Elizabeth reported cheerfully. “A woman was found cut into pieces in a freezer, in the 9th arrondissement of Paris. Her husband has been arrested.” “Gee, I guess Paris isn’t safe anymore,” responded another member of the family. “Wait a minute. There are 2 million women in the Paris area,” your author introduced a statistical analysis. “The odds of getting hacked to pieces is very low." “Unless you live in the 9th arrondissement,” Elizabeth suggested. “Or, you’re married to a guy who cuts up his wife,” we replied.

Manipulate, Distort… and Destroy: In a few sentences, we had identified the problems with statistics. One part useful, one part misleading, and one part a damned lie – they are always a menace. The ratio of butchered women/population is interesting. But not particularly helpful to the woman in the freezer.

Warren Buffett made the same point in his famous speech in Sun Valley, 1999; it’s the particular that matters: "The key to investing is not assessing how much an industry is going to affect society, or how much it will grow, but rather determining the competitive advantage of any given company and, above all, the durability of that advantage. The products or services that have wide, sustainable moats around them are the ones that deliver rewards to investors."

Last week, we explored the numbers used by the Fed to manipulate, distort and destroy the US economy. Today, we look at the headlines and wonder where the next dismembered body turns up. Benzinga: "Larry Summers Points Out US Never Evaded A Recession At These Unemployment, Inflation Levels: 'Powerful Historical Truth.'

Former Treasury Secretary Lawrence Summers reportedly highlighted the absence of past examples in which the U.S. managed to avoid a recession when the unemployment rate fell below 4% and inflation rose above 4%. That's a powerful historical Higher for Longer."

We asserted on Friday that inflation is now ‘embedded’ in the system. Like a weed in a garden, it will grow until it is pulled out. The Fed is on the case. Here’s the latest from Bloomberg: "Fed’s Preferred Inflation Gauge Accelerates, Adding Pressure for More Rate Hikes." "The personal consumption expenditures price index rose 5.4% from a year earlier and the core metric was up 4.7%, both marking pickups after several months of declines. Consumer spending, adjusted for prices, jumped 1.1% from the prior month, the most in nearly two years."

And more…Bloomberg continues: "Fed May Need to Hike to 6.5% to Cool Prices, Study Says." "In a paper presented Friday at a conference in New York, a quintet of Wall Street economists and academics argue that policymakers still have an overly-optimistic outlook and they will need to inflict some economic pain to get prices under control."

Oh yeah? The Fed may have to go even higher. Here is Research Affiliates, with more bad news: "Given the recent US inflation rate, which has been above 6% for the last 12 months and above 8% for the last 7 months, history tells us that the median number of years to reduce inflation below 3% is 10 years, with a 20th to 80th percentile range of 6 to 19 years. How many economists—let alone pundits and policy “experts”—have suggested we may have elevated inflation for six years, much less the longer outliers?

That is the good news. The bad news is at 6% and higher inflation, cresting inflation is the exception, not the rule: inflation usually marches to the next threshold. When inflation subsequently rises to the next threshold, we call these cases accelerating inflation. Indeed, once the 8% threshold is surpassed, as happened this year in the United States and much of Europe, inflation marched to the next threshold, and often well beyond, over 70% of the time.iii The lesson we should take from this is not that inflation is destined to move to new highs in the months ahead (after all, nearly 30% of the time, it is, in fact, cresting!), but that we dismiss that possibility at our peril.

Is it possible that inflation will recede to 4% and then to 2% in the coming year or two? Of course it’s possible! History says it is unlikely. Our fiscal and monetary policies have done far more harm than good in recent years. truth and I think it's one that's relevant to our current situation," Summers said."

Heads They Win, Tails You Lose: In other words, inflation ain’t going away anytime soon. When it goes over 8%, it usually goes higher. The Fed knows this too. So, now – with its many statistical obfuscations and ideological delusions – it is committed to continuing to raise rates. That will inevitably lead to lower stock prices, higher bond yields, and a recession.

Making a long story short, the Fed has to continue raising rates until one of two things happens – either the inflation rate falls (below the Fed’s key rate)…or higher interest rates cause something to break…and the Fed panics.

Our guess is that the second hypothetical will happen before the first one. Then, the situation will get worse, for a long, long time."

- https://bonnerprivateresearch.substack.com/

"They Could Steal Your Home"

Full screen recommended.

Dan, iAllegedly 2/27/23:

"They Could Steal Your Home"

"People are falling behind in their bills. People that do not have their property taxes paid are finding themselves the victims of losing their homes. The equity is being stolen."

Comments here:

- https://www.youtube.com/

Jim Kunstler, "It’s Coming"

"It’s Coming"

By Jim Kunstler

"Millions of people in the West see the spiritual catastrophe their societies are being led towards. The elites are going crazy, but that is their problem. What we have to do is defend our children from this degradation and degeneracy." - Aimee Therese on Twitter.

“It’s Coming.” That’s what Elon Musk said a while back apropos of the Twitter files that show all the US government suppression of Covid-19 information mis-labeled as “misinformation.” Think of whatever the truth is as mis-misinformation. Get it? You might have to read that sentence more than once to comprehend what went wrong with the American consensus the past three years. And then you’ll begin to understand why the operation is called mind-f*ckery.

“It” comes out in weird ways now. For instance, Woody Harrelson’s little prank on Saturday Night Live. The A-List actor opened the show acting stoned, talking about how much he likes weed and getting stoned, and, at the very end of his routine, spoke of a “movie script” that spun out in his stoned head:

"The Biggest drug cartels in the world get together, and buy up all the media and all the politicians… and force all the people in the world to stay locked in their homes… and people can only come out if they take the cartel’s drug… and keep taking them over and over. I threw the script away. I mean, who’s gonna believe that crazy idea?”

One can also imagine the NBC lawyers’ iPhones lighting up and emitting a cacophony of ring-tones in the late-night hours following Woody’s little gaucherie. After all, this is the TV network that still employs the likes of Rachel Maddow, Misinformation-Informer-in-Chief of the whole USA who, for years, has performed as the icon representing how the political Left thinks of itself, and what it thinks. What the Left thinks of itself, of course, is that it’s collectively the smartest person in the world. And what the Left actually thinks is exactly what Woody’s movie script implied: believe everything that the government, the news media, and the drug companies tell you, and act accordingly, and destroy anyone who says otherwise.

Woody’s gag offended the news media hugely and instantly, said media being scaffolded on the Internet. The response was wildly censorious. Vanity Fair’s insta-bulletin said, “Uncle Woody… taking the stage to float conspiracy theories disguised as provocative humor is both intellectually dishonest and tedious.” Tedious? As if you’ve heard that come out of A-list actors’ mouths a thousand times? I doubt it. Who is being “intellectually dishonest” exactly?

Rolling Stone, likewise headlined: “Woody Harrelson Spreads Anti-Vax Conspiracies During SNL Monologue.” (Just how anti-anti-establishment now is the old counter-culture rag I once worked for?) The Daily Beast, The Left’s house organ, echoed that: “Woody Harrelson Spews Anti-Vax Conspiracies in Rambling SNL Monologue.” Notice, “spews,” as in the most vile and disgusting bodily function imaginable, you revolting piece of filth….

Now, what Woody actually didn’t say in that little riff, if you’re paying attention, is that the vaxxes in question are ineffective and dangerous. Yes, he actually left that part out, though there were enough dots in the monologue to connect that message, if you were of a mind to. The problem for the smartest people in the world is that their minds stopped working about five years ago - mainly when a certain DJT stepped onstage to declare that the Left’s management of national affairs was corrupt, depraved, and dangerous. This enraged the management class to the max

Graduates of Yale, Brown, Harvard, and the rest of the elite service academies went nuts over that and, in a bizarre switcheroo for the ages, became the staunchest defenders of anything the government decided to impose on the people of this land, starting with a series of political hoaxes - RussiaGate, Ukraine phone call impeachment - cresting with the Covid-19 hysteria and its vaccination cherry-on-top. The smartest people in the world were all-in on all of that, and knocked themselves out enforcing and defending it.

And now… its coming… out. They were played. Absolutely snookered. All. These. Brilliant. Morally unassailably upright. Good. People. Taken for a ride. Spoofed. Put-on. Conned. And they sold out their country in the process. And now they cower on the verge of being unmasked for the mendacious fools they are. One might empathize at how horribly painful this is, the ethical wreckage of a whole social demographic! But don’t confuse empathy with sympathy. They are about to sink in historic disgrace and ignominy, and that’s why their official interlocutors react so harshly.

Another part Woody left out is what happens after the suckered people take the cartel’s drug over and over. They get sick and many of them die. We are just getting started with that chapter of the story and, as statistical investigator Edward Dowd said recently, the mRNA “vaccines” have already killed more Americans than all the wars this country ever fought. This is the kind of mis-misinformation that the managing elite really don’t want to face. But get ready. It’s coming."

- https://kunstler.com/

"Economic Market Snapshot 2/27/23"

"Economic Market Snapshot 2/27/23"

Market Data Center, Live Updates:

- https://www.marketwatch.com/market-data 

○

Down the rabbit hole of psychopathic greed and insanity...

Only the consequences are real - to you!

○

"It's a Big Club, and you ain't in it. 

You and I are not in the Big Club."

- George Carlin

○

- https://www.asktraders.com/analysis/

○

A comprehensive, essential daily read.

- http://www.shadowstats.com/

○

Financial Stress Index

"The OFR Financial Stress Index (OFR FSI) is a daily market-based snapshot of stress in global financial markets. It is constructed from 33 financial market variables, such as yield spreads, valuation measures, and interest rates. The OFR FSI is positive when stress levels are above average, and negative when stress levels are below average. The OFR FSI incorporates five categories of indicators: credit, equity valuation, funding, safe assets and volatility. The FSI shows stress contributions by three regions: United States, other advanced economies, and emerging markets."

○

- https://www.dailyjobcuts.com/

Job cuts and much more.

○

- https://www.zerohedge.com/

○

- https://www.investmentwatchblog.com/

○

- https://wallstreetonparade.com/

○

- https://www.whatreallyhappened.com/

○

- https://jessescrossroadscafe.blogspot.com/

○

Commentary, highly recommended:

- https://www.theburningplatform.com/

○

"The more I see of the monied classes,

the better I understand the guillotine."

- George Bernard Shaw

○

Oh yeah... beyond words. Any I know anyway...

○

And now... The End Game...

"How It Really Is, For Now..."

- https://coyoteprimeblog2.blogspot.com/

Doing my best...

Musical Interlude: Leonard Cohen, "Hallelujah"

Full screen recommended.

Leonard Cohen, "Hallelujah"

"I've done my best, it wasn't much,

I couldn't feel, so I tried to touch.

I've told the truth, I didn't come to fool you.

And even though it all went wrong

I'll stand before the Lord of song

With nothing on my tongue but Hallelujah..."

"Major WW3 Alert! Belarus Atacked, Border Clash; China Arms Russia"

Full screen recommended.

Canadian Prepper, 2/26/23:

"Major WW3 Alert! Belarus Atacked, Border Clash; 

China Arms Russia"

Comments here:

- https://www.youtube.com/

"Bank Meltdown Is Coming And It Will Wipe Out All Of Your Money"

Full screen recommended.

"Bank Meltdown Is Coming And 

It Will Wipe Out All Of Your Money"

by Epic Economist

"Did you know that banks can legally seize all your money whenever a major financial crisis erupts? And do you know where financial markets are headed right now? If you’re a regular on our channel, you probably guessed it: we’re on the brink of a historic financial meltdown, and the odds of a widespread banking collapse are getting increasingly higher. With the central bank intervening in private banking institutions, and soaring interest rates leading businesses to default on their loans, a very scary scenario is forming. And if I were you, I would take my money off the system right now.

U.S. banking institutions have been silently decaying for decades. Our money isn’t as safe as we would like to believe. Our system is flooded with banks. For the longest time, the idea that U.S. banks were the benchmark for how powerful a bank could be became almost unquestionable in our society. But that belief is probably linked to the narrative that the United States itself is the most powerful nation in the world. We must face the truth – our country has been losing its power on the global economic stage, and that deterioration extends into our banking sector as well.

Understanding the principles of banking isn’t an easy thing to do. We don’t really see banks as businesses, but that’s exactly what they are. And just as any other business out there, they have the potential to fail too. Obviously, no nation in the world wants its society to think that its banks are prone to failure. That’s why they spread the notion that our banks are entities that aren’t fallible. But when we look at the data, several indicators tell us otherwise. For example, over the past five years, despite one exception, not one single US bank has made it to the safest offshore banks list. A major contributor to that is the fact that we have nationalized our banking industry, and now the central bank controls the flow and supply of capital of private institutions.

An analysis released by financial experts with The Telegraph notes that the creation of the Federal Reserve was originally justified as an introduction of a device that ensured economic stability. “But the occasional chastisement of imprudent bankers and their foolish customers was just an excuse to get government into the banking business,” they wrote.

By making private banking problems systemic, the Fed can solve them using its favorite method: printing more and more money. In other words, the Fed’s actions do not solve the root cause of the issue, it just places a Band-aid on an infected wound. For that reason, today, we have what experts call “an unsound banking system,” which puts our savings in great danger.

Just a couple of weeks ago, the Chief Marketing Analyst at ITM Trading, Lynette Zang, came forward to warn the public that banks can legally confiscate their clients' money in the event it needs to stay afloat, and most retail investors are not aware of this. "They're laughing at us," she said. "They're saying that normal retail clients don't need to understand that there's really no money in the FDIC deposit insurance fund."

Most people have no idea what really happens when the banking system collapses, let alone how to prepare. But as we get closer to a widespread banking collapse, choosing where to put your money is crucial to ensure it doesn’t get caught in the crosshairs. A better option for you would be to close your U.S. bank account and look elsewhere. The clock is ticking. The stakes are too high, and if you don’t act fast, you risk losing everything."

Comments here:

- https://www.youtube.com/

"You Will Have to Pay Forever"

Full screen recommended.

Dan, iAllegedly, 2/26/23:

"You Will Have to Pay Forever"

"It looks like the insurance companies are going to expand cars that they will not insure. How far will this go? Plus, more and more auto makers are joining the subscription platform. Imagine never owning your car outright?"

Comments here:

- https://www.youtube.com/

Musical Interlude: Kevin Kern, "Another Realm"

Full screen recommended.

Kevin Kern, "Another Realm"

Beautiful...

"A Look to the Heavens"

"Finally It's here the deepest, sharpest infrared view of the universe to date: Webb's First Deep Field. The image shows the galaxy cluster SMACS 0723 as it appeared 4.6 billion years ago. The combined mass of this galaxy cluster acts as a gravitational lens, magnifying much more distant galaxies behind it. Webb s NIRCam has brought those distant galaxies into sharp focus  they have tiny, faint structures that have never been seen before, including star clusters and diffuse features.

This first image from NASA's James Webb Space Telescope is the deepest and sharpest infrared image of the distant universe to date. Known as Webb's First Deep Field, this image of galaxy cluster SMACS 0723 is overflowing with detail. Thousands of galaxies, including the faintest objects ever observed in the infrared, have appeared in Webb's view for the first time. This slice of the vast universe covers a patch of sky approximately the size of a grain of sand held at arms length by someone on the ground."

- https://www.youtube.com/c/Factnomenal

○

Full screen recommended.

"NASA Reveals More James Webb Space Telescope Images"

"You Can Be Sure..."

"The world breaks everyone, and afterward many are strong in the broken places. But those that will not break it kills. It kills the very good and the very gentle and the very brave impartially. If you are none of these you can be sure it will kill you too, but there will be no special hurry."

- Ernest Hemingway, "A Farewell To Arms"

"Don’t Fear The Reaper"

"Don’t Fear The Reaper"

by John Wilder

“No. Not like this. I haven't faced death. I've cheated death. I've tricked my way out of death and patted myself on the back for my ingenuity. I know nothing.”

- James T. Kirk, "Star Trek II: The Wrath of Khan"

“Death is the only wise advisor that we have. Whenever you feel, as you always do, that everything is going wrong and you're about to be annihilated, turn to your death and ask if that is so. Your death will tell you that you're wrong; that nothing really matters outside its touch. Your death will tell you, 'I haven't touched you yet.'”

- Carlos Castaneda, "Journey to Ixtlan"

"When The Soon To Be Mrs. and I were just dating, I was cooking something or other. I think it was eggs. I like eggs sunny side up, and don’t particularly care if they’re cooked all the way.  The Soon To Be Mrs.: “Aren’t you worried about salmonella?” John Wilder: (Laughs in full Chad manifestation.) The Soon To Be Mrs.: (Swoons.)

Seriously, she swooned. I’ve never seen it before in my life, but in that moment I think that was what sealed the deal, the moment in time that The Soon To Be Mrs. realized that this one is different. He’s not like the others. Here is a man who has zero fear of The Current Thing, and knows that salmonella won’t be the thing that punches his ticket out of having a functioning circulatory system.

No. I’m not afraid of salmonella. I would spit in its tiny little eyes or flagellum or tentacles and say, “Not today, my bacterium friend! My Danish-Scots-Germanic blood is far too strong for the likes of you!” And then I would attack Poland. Oh, wait, that’s been done.

I know I’m not going to die like Hemingway, and I’m not going to die like the comedy greats Belushi, Twain, or Nietzsche did. Nope. I think I’m gonna go out like Elvis. On a toilet after having eaten a fried peanut butter, jelly and bacon sandwich covered in cheddar cheese and mayo. Nope, I’m gonna die on a toilet. I mean, after all, a king should spend his last moments on the throne, right?

A lot of people worry about dying. I suppose I did, in my 20s, when I was worried about carrying out my responsibilities as a dad. Those are serious responsibilities – because those kids are going to be the legacy that I leave on Earth. That and my writing, collection of PEZ® dispensers and velvet Elvis paintings.

Again, a lot of people worry about dying. I’m not sure why. Of things that are more-or-less predetermined, that’s the big one. We’re all going to die. All of us. And I’m not sure I care.

Oh, sure, I want to live. I have no particular desire to die. If given the preference, I suppose I’m in favor of my continued heartbeat. But I don’t fear death. I don’t go to sleep at night wondering if this pain or that pain or that thing might be the symptom I look up on WebMD® that seals the deal that Wilder is going up to irritate Jesus in Heaven with bad puns.

I don’t worry about some future point when I’m going to enjoy life. I’ve achieved nearly every goal I’ve ever set for my life. End. Full stop. It’s like when a baseball game goes into extra innings, “Hey, free baseball.” And me? Free life. I’ve done nearly everything I’ve ever wanted to do.

What do you give a man who has everything? I mean, besides another bottle of wine. You give that man: Today. I’ve got Today. The only moment I live in is right now. And right now isn’t all that bad. I’m sitting in the sitting room (question: is any room I sit in, by definition, a sitting room? Discuss.) with the cool night air blowing in the window, some songs I love playing on the laptop, a cold beer by the keyboard, and the knowledge that at this moment, everything is fine.

Literally, in my life, Every Single Thing Is Fine. I could go into details, but you already know how awesome I am. So, I live for today? Hell no.

That’s YOLO. The idea that “You Only Live Once” is a free pass to act in any fashion has corroded society. It’s really at the root of many of the problems we have today. It is, in many ways, the absolute inverse of the philosophy I’m trying to describe. YOLO seeks to elevate hedonism and the passions of the moment as the highest good. YOLO is Tinder® times Planned Parenthood© times SnapFaceGramInstaChat® times Rwanda®.

t’s the inversion of beauty: it consists of being positive about, well, any old thing that feels good. I could list these “pleasures”, but you know the list as well as I do. We see it every day, with vice being paraded as virtue, and the continual demand going out for people to celebrate it, because, “Can’t you see? This horrid abomination that no healthy society or people in the entire history of the world has tolerated, iS BeAuTIfUL!” No, I think living a life built on YOLO is one doomed to fail – inevitably it will fail based on two reasons: it is materialism or a faith based on the nihilism of the material world writ large, and it is based on needs, like youth, wealth, sensation, or, yes, even life. So, not YOLO.

One thing I’ve tried to preach is outcome independence. Indeed, since the final outcome of life on Earth is fixed, all the intermediate steps lead there. Instead, I try to focus on virtue and faith. I write not because of YOLO, and not because it’s easy. Some nights it’s hard as hell to get the post to “close” and feel right. There are dozens of posts where, even after 1600 words, I still didn’t say exactly what I meant to say. That’s okay, it’s on me. I’m learning, and if I were perfect at this, I wouldn’t have more work to do.

For me, it’s the work. It’s getting better. It’s finding ways to add value to those people around me. There are those who pull their weight in the world, and those that don’t. I want to be one that pulls his weight, who has contributed as much as I can to helping my family and the wider world.

I don’t always do it. And I’m not always right, either. I’ve produced some stuff in my life that was really, really good, but not perfect. Thankfully, that’s not my mark, either, since just like immortality here on Earth, searching for perfection is a lonely and silly pastime. I want to make the world a better place with my family (first) and my work (now second) guided by God. And I want people to laugh hard while learning and thinking about the things I write.

The beauty of this is to win, all I have to do is the best that I can do every day. To win? All I have to do is be the best person I can be every day. See? Each night, I go to bed and sleep soundly if I know, in that day, that I gave it my all. Do I take time for me? Sure. But that’s not the goal – I serve a higher purpose.

So, what do I fear? Not death. It’s coming whether I like it or not, and, honestly, I’d rather not return my body in factory-fresh condition – I’d like all the parts to fail at once. On the toilet. I think Elvis would have wanted it that way. Oh, wait... I wonder if Elvis ate eggs sunny-side-up? Hang on, I’m sure he did. Elvis ate everything."

- https://wilderwealthywise.com/

○

Full screen recommended.

Blue Oyster Cult , "Don't Fear The Reaper"

The Daily "Near You?"

Fort Worth, Texas, USA. Thanks for stopping by!

"They Do Not Want Peace, So You Need To Prepare For A Horrific Global War"

"They Do Not Want Peace, 

So You Need To Prepare For A Horrific Global War"

By Michael Snyder

"I knew exactly what would happen when China unveiled their peace plan for the conflict in Ukraine. The night before, I told my wife that western leaders would immediately dismiss it. Sadly, that is precisely what happened. Of course any peace plan proposed by China was not going to be perfect. But for the good of humanity our leaders should be willing to at least sit down and talk with the Russians. Because if we stay on the path that we are currently on, eventually somebody will use nuclear weapons. And once things go nuclear, we could be facing a nightmare scenario in which hundreds of millions of people die.

This is not a game.

At some point, peace talks may become impossible. So if we have an opportunity to talk now, we should grab it. But instead, our leaders made it abundantly clear that they aren’t even interested in considering China’s peace plan…"US National Security Advisor Jake Sullivan, speaking on CNN, brushed off the Chinese proposal, saying it should have ended after the first bullet point, which calls for “respecting the sovereignty of all countries.” “This war could end tomorrow, if Russia stopped attacking Ukraine and withdrew its forces,” he said."

Asked about the proposal, NATO Secretary General Jens Stoltenberg said, “China doesn’t have much credibility” in light of its failure to condemn Putin’s war.

And Volodymyr Zelensky is completely rejecting the idea of ever negotiating with Vladimir Putin…"The Ukrainian president has repeatedly rejected the idea of negotiating a peace deal that would see Ukraine lose any of its territory. Speaking on Friday, he said he would not negotiate with Putin – even though he was prepared to speak to him before the war started. “It is not the same man. There is nobody to talk to there,” he said."

I think that Zelensky would see things quite differently if he was one of the men that was being forced into the meat grinder in eastern Ukraine. According to a former U.S. Marine that is fighting there, the “average life expectancy of a front-line soldier in eastern Ukraine is just four hours”…The average life expectancy of a front-line soldier in eastern Ukraine is just four hours, a former US Marine fighting alongside Ukrainian forces in the Donbas told ABC News. “It’s been pretty bad on the ground. A lot of casualties. The life expectancy is around four hours on the front line,” American Troy Offenbecker said.

It is a really, really horrible war. But those that are far from the front lines can afford to talk about how glorious the war is…"Just one day before the one-year anniversary of the Russian invasion, the official Twitter account for the NATO military alliance has come under criticism for a post that said Ukraine is “hosting one of the great epics of this century” and compared the war to Hollywood movies. The post, which quoted a Ukrainian soldier named Pavlo, said: “We are Harry Potter and William Wallace, the Na’vi and Han Solo. We’re escaping from Shawshank and blowing up the Death Star. We are fighting with the Harkonnens and challenging Thanos.”

The idea of comparing the war, which has claimed thousands of lives, seen widespread destruction, and destabalised the world’s food and energy supplies, to fictional characters was quickly deried by many on the social media platform.

I would like to see leaders from both sides be forced to serve on the front lines. If that ever happened, this war would end really quick.

Sadly, a conflict with Russia is apparently not enough, and so the Biden administration is now relentlessly provoking the Chinese. This week, a new round of sanctions that were announced by the Biden administration actually included entities located inside China…"The White House has announced yet another package of sweeping sanctions targeting Russia on the one-year anniversary of its brutal invasion of Ukraine – with new efforts to target third countries including China for sanctions evasion."

And it is being reported that the U.S. will soon “quadruple” that number of U.S. troops in Taiwan…"The US is expected to quadruple the number of forces deployed to Taiwan in the coming months as tensions with Beijing continue to simmer. The Wall Street Journal reported on Thursday that the Pentagon plans to deploy between 100 and 200 troops to the self-ruled island, up from around 30 a year ago." Service members from the Marines and the special forces have been sent to Taiwan in the past and the number has fluctuated over the years.

The Chinese consider Taiwan to be their sovereign territory. This is something that they believe with a passion. And so the fact that the Biden administration will be sending more U.S. troops to the island has really pissed them off…"A commentator for the Global Times, a media project of the Chinese Communist Party, issued a threat to the United States on Thursday night, intimating that China would not hesitate to engage U.S. forces stationed in Taiwan if the Chinese launched an invasion of the island nation.

Hu Xijin, formerly the editor-in-chief of the Global Times, reacted to a Wall Street Journal report about U.S. troops traveling to Taiwan by calling it “illegal” and suggesting that the Chinese would treat them as enemy combatants. “It’s illegal for these US soldiers to go to Taiwan and Chinese mainland won’t take any responsibility for their safety,” tweeted Hu. “If we take military action when necessary, they’ll be wiped out together with the resisting Taiwan troops. They can also be eliminated first as the invading army.”

But most Americans don’t understand any of this. Most Americans have absolutely no idea that we are literally on the verge of a war with China. Unfortunately, such a conflict is getting a little bit closer with each passing day. In fact, we just witnessed a very alarming incident over the South China Sea…"A voice, saying it’s coming from a People’s Liberation Army (PLA) airport, crackles over the radio of the US Navy P-8 Poseidon as a CNN crew, given rare access aboard the US flight, listens in.

“American aircraft. Chinese airspace is 12 nautical miles. Not approaching any more or you bear all responsibility,” it says. For some reason, the U.S. Navy aircraft was carrying a CNN crew, and the Chinese fighter jet got so close to them that they “could make out the red star on the tail fins and the missiles it was armed with”…

"In a few minutes, a Chinese fighter jet armed with air-to-air missiles intercepts the US plane, nestling in just 500 feet off its port side. The Chinese fighter jet was so close, the CNN crew could see the pilots turning their heads to look at them – and could make out the red star on the tail fins and the missiles it was armed with."

Why does the Biden administration see the need to endlessly provoke China at a moment like this? It is madness. We could easily find ourselves involved in conflicts with both Russia and China at the same time, and I have been precisely warning of such a scenario for a very long time.

Unfortunately, we have a hothead in the White House that is in an advanced stage of mental decline. And he is surrounded by irrational warmongers such as Jake Sullivan, Antony Blinken and Victoria Nuland. They do not want peace. So global war is coming, and I would strongly encourage you to get prepared for such an outcome."

- http://theeconomiccollapseblog.com/

"Get prepared..." How, Michael?

o

Of course, human nature being what it is...

Full screen recommended.

Steve Cutts, "A Brief Disagreement"

"A visual journey into mankind's favorite pastime throughout the ages."

"How It Really Is"

 

Free Download: Bertrand Russell, "The Conquest Of Happiness"

"Bertrand Russell on the Secret of Happiness"

by Maria Popova

"In my darkest hours, what has saved me again and again is some action of unselfing - some instinctive wakefulness to an aspect of the world other than myself: a helping hand extended to someone else’s struggle, the dazzling galaxy just discovered millions of lightyears away, the cardinal trembling in the tree outside my window. We know this by its mirror-image - to contact happiness of any kind is “to be dissolved into something complete and great,” something beyond the bruising boundaries of the ego. The attainment of happiness is then less a matter of pursuit than of surrender — to the world’s wonder, ready as it comes.

That is what the Nobel-winning philosopher and mathematician Bertrand Russell (May 18, 1872–February 2, 1970) explores in "The Conquest of Happiness," the 1930 classic that gave us his increasingly urgent wisdom on the vital role of boredom in flourishing.

Russell writes: "The world is vast and our own powers are limited. If all our happiness is bound up entirely in our personal circumstances it is difficult not to demand of life more than it has to give. And to demand too much is the surest way of getting even less than is possible. The man* who can forget his worries by means of a genuine interest in, say, the Council of Trent, or the life history of stars, will find that, when he returns from his excursion into the impersonal world, he has acquired a poise and calm which enable him to deal with his worries in the best way, and he will in the meantime have experienced a genuine even if temporary happiness."

In a sentiment he would expand in his final years as he contemplated what makes a fulfilling life, he adds: "The secret of happiness is this: let your interests be as wide as possible, and let your reactions to the things and persons that interest you be as far as possible friendly rather than hostile."

Couple this fragment of the wholly nourishing "The Conquest of Happiness" with Kurt Vonnegut on the secret of happiness, then revisit Russell on the key to the good life, how to heal a divided world, and his magnificent Nobel Prize speech about the four desires driving all human behavior."

- https://mailchi.mp/

Freely download "The Conquest Of Happiness", 

by Bertrand Russell, here:

- https://www.holybooks.com/

o

o

"Love, Music, Solitude, and How to Be More Alive:

 The Best of The Marginalian 2022"

“Your Whole Life Is Borrowed Time”

“Your Whole Life Is Borrowed Time”

by David Cain

“I can’t remember if this is a real movie plot, or if I just want it to be. A man with a boring job is on his way to work when his attention is caught by some unexpected detail in his otherwise familiar routine – a peculiar insect, a pattern in the concrete, a cryptic slogan on a t-shirt. This detail seems extremely significant to him, but he doesn’t know why.

The strange sight wakes him up from the autopilot-mode by which he has been living his life. He is suddenly aware, for the first time, how complex and interesting his local high street is, and he stops to take it in. Around him pass hundreds of distinctly different people, each a unique individual, driven by some unseen personal motivation. Shops are filled with thousands of trinkets, tools, snacks, and books. Delivery trucks roll past, music plays from somewhere, buildings rise above him. The scene is miraculous to him.

As he surveys the street, he witnesses something surreal: another version of himself is walking away from him, towards his usual bus stop, evidently not having had this same moment of self-awareness. For reasons he is never told, at that moment his life had apparently split in two. However, his double does not make it onto the bus: as he waits, an air conditioning unit falls from a window above, killing him instantly. In a very unexpected and unstorylike way, his life ends.

The man has no idea what has happened, and never receives an explanation. The authorities never identify the person beneath the air conditioner, and the man never tells anyone what he witnessed because nobody would ever believe it. There is nothing to do but carry on with his life. But he is a changed man.

Every morning he is amazed to find another whole day awaiting him. Every meal, every phone call, every greeting from his doorman feels like an undeserved gift, as though he’d mistakenly been given the honeymoon suite at a hotel. He feels grateful even for his problems.

None of the details of his life have changed, except one thing. He now lives with an awareness that he was never truly entitled to be alive; he just happened to be, and still is. His ability to breathe, see, feel, and make choices now seems to him like an unearned, arbitrary status- one that he may freely enjoy, but which can be revoked at any time without explanation. He hopes he never loses this sense that his life is essentially a bonus round, consisting entirely of borrowed time, not just from the day of his strange experience, but from the beginning.

I once attended a networking event for entrepreneurs, in Toronto. The host had booked a private room beneath a restaurant in Greektown. I was early, so I spent some time in a nearby park, then checked out the shops and restaurants on Danforth Avenue. I stopped in front of a church to tie my shoe. I remember being nervous about meeting a bunch of new people. Of course, it went fine and I had a good time. I had interesting conversations with entrepreneurs in all sorts of spaces: fitness, web development, beard grooming, venture capital. The food was excellent.

The experience was distant enough from my normal routine that, during the event, I was struck by how easily we find ourselves in moments we could not have pictured. For all the certainty we feel when we plan for (or ruminate about) the future, life unfolds in ways that are ultimately unpredictable. We just end up places. Two weeks after that event, a deranged man with a gun walked down the same stretch of Danforth Avenue and shot fourteen people at random, then shot himself.

I don’t mean to sound dramatic. It wasn’t a close call, at least for me. I’m sure a hundred thousand people walked down that stretch of road in the weeks surrounding the incident. There are people who literally dodged the bullets. But when I watched videos of eye-witness accounts, including some in front of the church where I tied my shoes and the corner where I nervously loitered, it gave me a vital bit of perspective: I happen to be alive, and there’s no cosmic law entitling me to that status. Being alive is just happenstance, and not one more day of it is guaranteed.

This thought instantly relieved me of any angst over that particular day’s troubles: technical issues on my website, an unexpected major expense, an acute sense that I’m getting old. Those problems remained, and they are real problems. But they immediately became only relatively important. They lost their sense of absolute importance. In fact, any personal problem I could think of now seemed to be a small, aesthetic complaint about the grand, mysterious gift of being randomly, unfairly alive that day.

This perspective made it easy to tackle the problems I could, and live at peace with the others, all with a breezy sense that this is just a bonus round anyway. Despite the awful news, it was a productive and enjoyable day, and I would like to live all my days that way. That was a few weeks ago. Not surprisingly, the breezy feeling now comes and goes – too many years of seeing my latest dilemma as absolutely important, rather than just relatively important.

This “I could be dead” perspective isn’t a sentimental thinking exercise. I think it’s a more honest view of our ever-tentative situation, one that respects the impersonal, flippant way in which fate handles our lives. The shooting just forced me to see my day in that way, but a random crime is only one of many possible (and still possible) endings. There are always speeding cars, rare diseases, gas explosions, and treacherous stairwells. And none of these events, when they do happen, are negotiable.

The universe is not at all sentimental – aliveness is always going to be an arbitrary status that can be revoked at any time. No recourse, no due process.

Equally mysterious is that our lives began at all. As my favorite philosopher, Douglas Harding, tried to remind us before he died: “It’s the very last thing, isn’t it, that we feel grateful for: having happened. You know, you needn’t have happened. You needn’t have happened. But you did happen.”

And we needn’t still be happening. But we are. I suppose the trick is to remember that fact even in the throes of our worst moods and toughest dilemmas. Maybe I’ll get a reminder tattooed on my wrist, for whenever my complaints start to seem absolutely important: This is borrowed time, all of it. Would you rather give it back?”

- https://www.raptitude.com/